Ghosts of the Asylum: Peoria State Hospital

Paranormal Insider Radio welcomes Sylvia Shults as our host, Alex Matsuo chats with her about Peoria State Hospital.  Shults is a noted paranormal researcher and has released her most recent nonfiction book, called Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital (Dark Continents Publishing). 

Join the official radio chat at http://forums.pennstateprs.com/index.php?/chat/

The Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville, Illinois, served the mentally ill and mentally handicapped of the area from 1902 to 1973. During the first half of the twentieth century, the asylum was the world’s premiere institution for the treatment of mental illness. Home to an unparalleled school of nursing, the asylum gave help to thousands of suffering patients. The superintendent, Dr. George A. Zeller, was a pioneer in the field of mental health care. The patients at the Peoria State Hospital received such compassionate treatment that it seems that after death, many of them remained at the asylum.  

Fractured Spirits: Hauntings at the Peoria State Hospital is a result of years of research. Shults spoke to dozens of people who have had paranormal experiences at the abandoned asylum. She has also done many inves- tigations of her own. The book, and Shults’ research, was featured on an episode of Ghost Hunters (“Prescription for Fear”, which aired January 30, 2013).  

Shults lives in Illinois with her husband. She works at the Fondulac District Library, mostly in order to feed her book addiction. She also serves as the Publicity Director for Dark Continents Publishing. In addition to nonfiction, she also writes romance and horror. She is the first to admit that there is a fine line between the two.